VICTOR MUTELEKESHA

The Phantom of self

The Phantom of self

In the “great dictator”, Hitler, played by Charlie Chaplin
flirts with the idea of potentially becoming an emperor of the world in the
scene in his office where he kicks, bounces and caresses the globe. In his
delusion state of mind only then will he be content and complete. The globe as the
measure of endurance and wholeness stretches back into ancient times, the Greek
mythology speaks of Atlas the Titan god who bore the entire globe on his
shoulders; though first as punishment but his act is later seen as an ultimate
measure of endurance.

Aware of the above references to the globe this project
takes the shape of the globe to illustrate the “mini” world we create for
ourselves, one composed of Dress we painstakingly, consciously or indeed
subconsciously chose to present first as an extension of the self but
eventually become definitive of who we think we are

This project though explore the self as a moving
target (with regard to putting on and off of clothing), one with potential of
never being fully realized till the day we die. The self is in contact flux,
like the globe has potential of rolling over in any given direction and like
snow ball keep collecting the mass then splinter into a million little pieces
upon impact and they too potentially gathering more mass a vicious cycle that
never sees the end. Clothing has become a defining factor of who we are and who
we want the world to see so the self is extended from inner truest self to the
out clothed self; an image that matter most to those that see us.

The Phantom of self

Victor Mutelekesha

The Phantom of self

In the “great dictator”, Hitler, played by Charlie Chaplin
flirts with the idea of potentially becoming an emperor of the world in the
scene in his office where he kicks, bounces and caresses the globe. In his
delusion state of mind only then will he be content and complete. The globe as the
measure of endurance and wholeness stretches back into ancient times, the Greek
mythology speaks of Atlas the Titan god who bore the entire globe on his
shoulders; though first as punishment but his act is later seen as an ultimate
measure of endurance.

Aware of the above references to the globe this project
takes the shape of the globe to illustrate the “mini” world we create for
ourselves, one composed of Dress we painstakingly, consciously or indeed
subconsciously chose to present first as an extension of the self but
eventually become definitive of who we think we are

This project though explore the self as a moving
target (with regard to putting on and off of clothing), one with potential of
never being fully realized till the day we die. The self is in contact flux,
like the globe has potential of rolling over in any given direction and like
snow ball keep collecting the mass then splinter into a million little pieces
upon impact and they too potentially gathering more mass a vicious cycle that
never sees the end. Clothing has become a defining factor of who we are and who
we want the world to see so the self is extended from inner truest self to the
out clothed self; an image that matter most to those that see us.

Dikenga

Victor Mutelekesha

When the voyager mission to space got launched in 1977 both
probes were tasked to study the outer solar system. Just in case other
intelligent life forms were to encounter the probes golden recodes were
attached to both voyager 1 and 2 telling a human story.

Now it begs the question; “what constitutes our story and
how much do we know about ourselves?

Dikenga is a Congolese Cosmogram and is said to be the
origin of the Egyptian Ankh Symbol (the unification of dualities and the key to
eternal life). Dikenga depicts the four
positions of the sun deduced by observing its movements, which seeks to tell a
complete story of who we really are independent from any material attachments.
Of the four small cycles depicted in the middle square chamber of the
installation the first depicts Kala: morning; birth and childhood, the second
depicts Tukula: Noon the prime of life, the third depicts Luevumba: sunset,
Late life old age and death while the fourth depicts Masoni: midnight, rebirth,
resurrection.

All these then form a complete cycle while at the same time
being attached at the center where they form the crossroad of the living and
the dead testifying to the idea that there is no end or beginning; existence
continues in one form or another just as knowledge itself is cyclical. In an
extended version these ideas specks of the futility of a single story as
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie eloquently spoke about “the dangers of a single story”
in her effort to stem stereotype and prejudice.
Dikenga speaks of multiplicity of being and leaves no room for complete
cessation.

Note: Dikenga as a symbol in one version or the other or as
an idea finds itself in multipal geographical locations in the world … the four-looped
square, st johns arm.

What dikenga does though is to tell the most complete human
story from the part of the work that till remains “Dark” (The Congo) on the
global light “symphony”. By telling that story it extends its reach into time
past and space hence the in the four triangular arms (four being the major directions of earth North. East, South and
West) into which I randomly picked and placed and placed, first the Ouroboros which means infinity or wholeness, the I'itoi labyrinth
depicting man travel through the cycle of life, the Yin Yang which describes how seemingly opposite or contrary forces may
actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural
world and finally the The Scarab.The ancient Egyptians believed that Khepri
renewed the sun every day before rolling it above the horizon, then carried it
through the other world after sunset, only to renew it, again, the next day,
the rebirth.

These thoughts
developed by civilizations that seemed far apart testify to the uniformity of
the human mind and its quests.

In what I would call the lamentation of the state of a laborer, Karl Marx writes, “We have proceeded from the premises of political economy… we have shown that the worker sinks to the level of a commodity and becomes indeed the most wretched of commodities; that the wretchedness of the worker is in inverse proportion”. “The people of Al Quoz” highlights the wretched laborer of Dubai.

Hole. 2014

“Hole”

Directly inspired by Dante’s inferno is this “bottomless hole” in the centre of an unevenly spiralling segment of an abstract landscape. What seems like a single surface colour brakes into several as the spiral reaches the mouth of the “sinkhole” plunging them all into invisibility. Humanity is at its worst when we identify for better or worse by colour and creed and when we define an individual my them hence in this sculpture colours are most prominent at the most volatile of location; the plunge.

Acrylic 1 and Plywood. 90X190X90cm

Others. 2015

The monument is a projection into our future, just as we raise the long dead carcass of dinosaurs in museums to remind ourselves of where we are coming from. On the other hand the project helps us to come to terms with our current reality accepting it and deeming it worthy of building a monument to.

There are those that fall through the cracks of our utopia social welfare project who openly live among us and that their acts or ways of existence defies or pokes fingers at the very foundation of our humanitarian identity. This sculpture is meant to be a monument to recognise their existence and help accept a condition one can't change overnight.

Mixed media. 1300X500X300cm

Not there yet.

This is an installation of a capsized frame of a boat covering a TV screen on a very small sandy beach. The frame depicts the flimsy unsafe boats used by would be immigrants from Africa crossing the Mediterranean sea lured by the fantasy of a European paradise as represented by the media; the media that represents Africa as “the devils play ground”. The TV screen run video lop of stories from a third person perspective about the experience of immigrants in Italy. the two video inside is titled cat and mouse.